2020 Winter Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Tampa, Florida
Event 8
$400 Black Chip Bounty NLH
Entries: 153
Prize Pool: $35,955
Bounty Prize Pool: $15,300
December 13, 2020

While Day 2 of the WPO Main Event was playing down, we had one last guitar trophy event to kick off. WPO Event 8 was a $400 buy-in Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold’em game that rewarded players a $100 bounty for knocking out an opponent. In the early morning hours, Harmeet Chawla took home the outright title along with $9,707 and the guitar trophy.

The tournament drew 153 entries to make the main prize pool worth $35,955 and a $15,300 bounty prize pool. That last 16 players earned a piece and they made the money shortly after the dinner break.

Harmeet Chawla outlasted the entire field to take home his second major Tampa title of the year following his WSOP Circuit win here in February. Chawla began his series on a roll when he finished fifth out of 811 entries in Event 2 and closed it out with a win.

Congrats to Harmeet on another great series!

Event 8 results:

1st: Harmeet Chawla – $9,707 + Guitar Trophy
2nd: Jason Giles – $6,112
3rd: Noam Muallem – $3,703
4th: Derrick Cutler – $2,697
5th: Adrian Moseley – $2,157
6th: Asaf Ben Shushan – $1,690
7th: Josias Santos – $1,366
8th: Tony Faris – $1,187
9th: Samuel Sternfield – $1,043
10th: Alexander Chiang – $971
11th: Sebastian Syssau – $971
12th: Mitchell Smith – $971
13th: Nadeem Hirani – $863
14th: Illia Shtondenko – $863
15th: Jeremy Becker – $863
16th: Vasyl Chubei – $791

$1,700 WPO Main Event (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 26:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 779

The Main Event final table draw is set and the seven remaining players will return on Monday at noon to play it out. Max Young leads the way but Peter Walsworth is less than one small blind behind. Darin Thompson, Fernando Rodriguez, Phil Hernz, Romeo Mendoza, and Edgardo Rosario round out the lineup.

They will return with 9:47 remaining in Level 26 with the average stack at 3,340,000 (67 bb).

Seat 1: Fernando Rodriguez – 3,000,000 (60 bb)
Seat 2: Peter Walsworth – 5,705,000 (114 bb)
Seat 3: Max Young – 5,720,000 (114 bb)
Seat 4: Darin Thompson – 3,795,000 (76 bb)
Seat 5: Romeo Mendoza – 1,515,000 (30 bb)
Seat 6: Phil Hernz – 2,445,000 (49 bb)
Seat 7: Edgardo Rosario – 1,215,000 (24 bb)

Remaining payouts:

1st: $226,510
2nd: $158,828
3rd: $102,211
4th: $73,618
5th: $56,497
6th: $45,605
7th: $37,890

$1,700 WPO Main Event (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 26:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining: 7 of 779

In a strange turn of events, the WPO Main Event made it down to the seven-handed final table in record time. Before the level even came to an end, four more players were sent out in the span of five hands.

Among them, Day 2 returning chip leader Jack Sumner and former Tampa winner John O’Neal.

Players are bagging up their chips and will return tomorrow at noon to play it out with $226K up top.

8th: Antony Costa – $30,198
9th: Tommy Tran – $22,652
10th: John O’Neal – $18,933
11th: Jack Sumner – $18,933

$1,700 WPO Main Event (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 26:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  11 of 779

Action finally calmed a bit after Event 3 champ Ryan Hogan was eliminated in 13th place. The remaining 12 players settled in for a bit until Casey Carroll took a shot to double.

Max Young opened to 115,000 and Carroll moved all in for 1,470,000 next to act. The buttons and blinds released and Young called quickly.

Young:
Carroll:

A tough spot for Carroll and nothing on the flop. The turn gave him a little bit of hope but the former HPT champ was eliminated in 12th place after the river.

Max Young – 5,500,000 (110 bb)
Casey Carroll – Eliminated in 12th place ($18,933)

$1,700 WPO Main Event (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25:  20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 ante
Players Remaining:  13 of 779

The crazy pace continues. In the time it took to recount one bust out, three more happened, enough to get the Main Event down to two tables plus one player.

The blinds are 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 ante and the average stack is 1,800,000 (45 bb). Peters Walsworth regained the lead and sits with 4,180,000.

14th: Eric Lamoureux – $15,081
15th: Anthony Carbone – $15,081
16th: Ryan Luker – $12,606

$1,700 WPO Main Event (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 24:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  16 of 779

The players returned for dinner and things went quickly with bellies full of tasty food. We lost three in the first five minutes than watched Donald Himpele get his chips in about as good as he could hope.

Fernando Rodriguez opened the action and Himpele moved all in for 630,000 next to act. Rodriguez did not take long to make a call.

Rodriguez:
Himpele:

Himpele was dominant for the double up but the perked up the interest of the table. Rodriguez flopped a flush draw but Himpele dodged the turn. The bad news came on the river and the king cracking was done to send the New Jersey player out in 17th place.

Fernando Rodriguez – 3,305,000 (110 bb)

Recent results:

17th: Donald Himpele – $12,606
18th: John Compton – $12,606
19th: William Cho – $10,626
20th: Gregory Wilson – $10,626

$1,700 WPO Main Event (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 24:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  20 of 779

The 60-minute dinner break is complete and the Main Event is back underway with 20 players remaining. They will continue into the evening until only seven players remain for the final table tomorrow.

We have a virtual dead heat at the top of the counts. Peter Walsworth is back on top and returns to a castle worth 2,750,000. On a nearby table, Romeo Mendoza is only 15K shy of that with 2,735,000. The stacks are deep and anyone can catch them.

Blinds are now 15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante and the average stack is 1,170,000 (39 bb).

$1,700 WPO Main Event (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 23:  15,000/25,000 with a 25,000 ante
Players Remaining:  20 of 779

The Main Event hit 21 players and tournament staff paused the clock to redraw the last three tables of the tournaments. After they were seated, they played out the level and were sent on a 60-minute dinner break.

Recent results:

21st: Pablo Valdivieso – $10,626
22nd: Bryce McVay – $8,286

$1,700 WPO Main Event (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 23:  15,000/25,000 with a 25,000 ante
Players Remaining:  22 of 779

Blake Whittington was down to 260,000 and open-shoved his stack. It folded to John O’Neal in the big blind and he called to put the six-time WSOP Circuit champ at risk.

O’Neal:
Whittington:

Whittington had two live cards to double, flopped a gutshot draw when it came , but king-high was good for O’Neal after the turn and river.

John O’Neal – 710,000 (28 bb)

Recent results:

23rd: Blake Whittington – $8,286
24th: Michael Vanderwoude – $8,286

$1,700 WPO Main Event (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 23:  15,000/25,000 with a 25,000 ante
Players Remaining:  24 of 779

We caught the action with the flop reading and three-way action. That pot had ~130,000 in the middle with short-stacked Ronnie Day all in preflop and Pablo Valdivieso bet 75,000 to get another live player out of the hand.

Valdivieso:
Day:

Valdivieso outflopped Day’s ace but he picked up a little more hope after the turn. The river finished the board to send Day out in 25th place.

Pablo Valdivieso – 1,100,000 (44 bb)

Recent eliminations:

25th: Ronnie Day – $7,510
26th: Kenneth Goldfarb – $7,510
27th: Ryan Van Sanford – $7,510